


Coming Home

by foxowl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bullying, Foster Care, Gen, Loss, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad, Shock, Time Skips, space travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7712170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxowl/pseuds/foxowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The paladins are going back home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Earth

The Earth looked so still outside the window of the ship. Pidge sat staring out to the beautiful world with a list of what to do when they landed. ‘Eat a burger, go on a roller-coaster, drink soda.’  
“I still can’t believe we’ve come back here.” Shiro spoke from behind, leaning against the wall.  
“I can’t believe I’ll see my mom again. I just wished Matt and Dad were with us.” Pidge said, doodling in their notepad.  
“Hopefully when we get back, we can focus properly on going out and finding them. Right now, we all need to go home.” Shiro walked towards Pidge and ruffled their hair, making the young teen pout. “We need to get to the main hall, Allura and Coran wanna say goodbye.”  
"Kind of wished they'd join with us." Pidge gathered their things, following Shiro.  
"So do I, I wanted to show them how our world looks. Maybe compare which is better." Shiro laughed.

Shiro and Pidge entered through the doors, only to be given a gift from Coran, a small box with a bow tied on top of it and a device similar to a walkie-talkie.  
“Now, I’ve prepared you all a delicious meal! It shouldn’t expire since well, it’s been in the ship for over ten thousand years! And I’m pretty sure you will all miss this delicacy!” Coran boasted, handing more boxes to Keith, Lance and Hunk who were all lounging on the coaches in the main hall.  
“This…really isn’t necessary, there’s plenty of food on Earth which is so much better.” Lance replied with a snarky tone whilst packing it in his bag.  
“Well if that’s how you’re gonna say goodbye to me and the Princess then I’ll take it back! Come on! Hand it over!” Coran grabbed Lance’s bag to pull the food back out.  
“I’m kidding! I’m still gonna eat it! Jeez, can’t we joke about this!” Lance shouted, pulling his bag back.  
“Well I don’t see how it’s funny, all five of you are leaving, finally returning home and you ‘joke’ about how your food is better!” Coran paused before sighing, showing a more sorrowful expression. “You guys were a nightmare…but I’m gonna miss you…I told myself I wouldn’t cry.”  
Hunk ran to Coran and gave him a bear hug, “I’m gonna miss you and Allura so much!” Coran’s face became red as Hunk sobbed.  
“Um, Hunk…maybe you should let him go.” Keith suggested as he fastened his bag  
“Oh right, sorry.” Hunk loosened his grip and Coran was saved.  
Allura laughed slightly and pointed at the devices, "Oh, those devices should allow you all to talk to Coran and I. Just in case you get a little lonely. We'll let the lions fly you back onto Earth and then they'll fly back to us...in theory."  
“Thank you…for everything.” Shiro smiled at Allura whilst packing the gifts into a small bag.  
“Oh no, you shouldn’t be thanking me. I should be thanking you, all of you." Allura paused, "Without you, Coran and I would still be asleep right now, Zarkon would still be in rule and the planets now wouldn’t be at peace.” Allura spoke, her voice breaking slightly, she tried to control her breathing. “Now, you have the amazing opportunity to go home and see your families, I'm so proud of you all...”

After a few minutes, the teams set off to their lions. Preparing for take-off, they said their final goodbyes to Allura and Coran, to the adventure they had in the stars and to the worlds they had encountered. They flew back down to Earth, the darkness covered with stars transitioned to a bright blue sky with fluffy clouds. The lions continued diving down to the sandy ground, it looked like the same location they were last before leaving the planet. The paladins took a moment to stare at the view of their old home with smiles on their faces.  
A crackle of voices came through the speakers, “Un-den----d -ircra-- ---- is ---- pur—se for la—ing?”  
“What was that?” Lance asked the others.  
“Sounded like a message to us.” Hunk responded, “Wait…what’s the button to speak to them?”  
“We spend at least a year or more with these lions and you don’t know what all the buttons are?” Keith added, rolling his eyes.  
“Hey, hey, I’ve never had a reason to speak to enemy via radio, how am I supposed to know?” Hunk said, trying his best to look around for a button to speak to the radio.  
“Guys, stop fighting. I’ll try and speak to them. This is Takashi Shirogane in the Black Lion. We’re landing to return home. Over.” Shiro repeated his phrase to radio but the radio continued to make muffled noise, repeating the same phrase. “We can’t get to them. We’ll just land and explain ourselves.”  
“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Keith shook his head slightly.  
“Do you have any better ideas?”  
Keith sighed, “not really. We’ll go with yours.”  
“Good, we land on that area up there.” Shiro ordered, the other agreeing. The team flew and landed safely on a bare sandy land.  
“Oh my god, we’re actually home.” Lance laughed, quick to get out of the lion and run around on the ground laughing, practically kissing the earth under him. Hunk and Pidge joined, hugging each other and cheering. Shiro took a deep breath of air and looked around to his team, noticing one was missing.  
“Hey, Keith, you can get out of Red now…. Keith?” Shiro spoke over the radio.  
“I have a bad feeling…I don’t wanna be here…There’s something wrong.” Keith freaked, finding a way to wake Red up and fly away. Before the team knew it, there was a crowd of vehicles driving towards them. “Shiro, this was a bad idea to come back! Shiro!”  
“Keith, get out of the lion. We need to stay calm about this. Last time I freaked with these guys, they knocked me out. So get out of the lion.” Shiro’s voice was shaking, but the authoritative tone got through to Keith. He climbed out of his seat and joined his team. Raising their hands as the military crowded around them. 

\------------------ 

“So let me get this straight…you were in the Kerboros mission…got abducted by an alien empire and became a gladiator…escaped and returned to Earth…only to go back to space to fight said empire with a bunch of teenagers.” The man interviewing said, in a suit to avoid any contamination.  
“And bring peace to the universe…It sounds strange but it’s true.” Shiro nodded.  
“I’m too tired for this shit…” The interviewer muttered to himself as he left the room. The audio between the interviewer and Shiro was uploaded to the laptop. The man started to compare audio between all five of the team members.  
The interviewer started with Lance’s audio. “Well, me and Hunk were gonna pick up some ladies when we saw Pidge who was like ‘Ooooo look at me with my cool tech! Aliens are talking to me about Voltron!’ and we were like ‘Voltron? What’s that?’ and Pidge was like ‘lol I don’t know’ Anyway, big crash! And then we went to check it out, right? Found out Shiro was the guy the military found, and I was like ‘Dudes we need to check this out!’ and then Keith got in the way as I was about to save Shiro and we all escaped, Keith said something about a place I can’t remember but then we found Blue! Blue is my lion and he took us through a wormhole and to Arus where we met Allura and Coran! Allura is fine by the way like I want her to step on me! Anyway, everyone else got their own lions and we formed Voltron! We defeated Zarkon and saved the universe! Now where’s my parade!”  
He blinked for a few seconds, trying to process what Voltron, Arus, all these strange words were. He then played Hunk’s audio. “Well, I don’t know, me and Pidge kind of got dragged by Lance until we found Keith and Shiro and then a blue lion and then me and Lance went to find my lion, Yellow and then we formed Voltron and then started protecting the universe. They have really weird food in space but there’s so many planets, you cannot believe it, there’s a planet called Balmera that is just a whole creature itself! It’s amazing!”  
The interviewer paused and played Pidges’ audio. “I was researching the skies, they kept talking about Voltron and then we saw a crash. I saw it was Shiro from hacking into the cameras and I needed to find out if he knew where my dad and brother were so we managed to save him with Keith’s help and then we found the blue lion. Then I found my lion, Green and then we started saving planets and fought Zarkon and got rid of the Galra Empire and now we’re back. Can I see my mom now?”  
Next was Keith’s “I’m not telling you anything. You can’t make me tell you anything! Where's Red? I wanna know where my lion is!”  
The interviewer was confused. The giant robot lions that the pilots talked about were just outside, restrained but outside. Their stories are consistent with each other, except for Keith’s. Yet their story sounds like it came out of a TV show. At least now his job was done. He can go home with his cat. 

The team sat around in a contained room. Lance was checking himself out in the one-way mirror whilst Shiro and Keith sat next to each other. Keith tapped his fingers on the table, the authorities took away all their possessions stating it was ‘for safety’.  
Hunk knocked on the door, a woman in a contamination suit stood by the window on the door. “Hey is there any way that we can get, I don’t know some playing cards or something. We’re kind of bored.”  
“Sorry sir, nothing goes in or out without de-contamination.” She replied.  
“Oh come on, I’m so bored here.” Hunk moped and sat by Pidge. The team waited hours before a new stranger in a hazard suit entered the room.  
“I have an important question for all of you.” He asked, clearing his throat.  
“What is it?” Shiro asked, there was a pause.  
“What year do you think it is?”  
The paladins looked at each other, confused, "Why do you ask?" Keith spat out, taking a deep breath to prepare for the man's response.  
“Well…because the events you spoke about, the Kerboros mission, the crash landing on Earth, the flying robot lion. It all happened fifty years ago.” There was silence in the air.

Fifty years had passed since they were last on Earth.


	2. Pidge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Pidge after they arrived back to Earth?

Pidge walked back home from school with a black eye and a backpack hanging from their shoulders. Girls looked down at them as they stormed through the little circle.  
“It’s that weird kid.” One muttered.  
“Hey, can we have some space cakes too?” Another girl mocked Pidge as the group giggled to each other. It had been a month since they arrived back to Earth.  


They entered a noisy house, music playing loudly as a shooting game was on full volume. A woman calling to Pidge, “Hi Katie! How was schoo-Oh my god, what happened?!”  
The woman ran over and knelt in front of Pidge, checking their eye, Pidge moved their face away. “It’s nothing, Sarah, I just...got into a fight.”  
“Why did you get into a fight?” Sarah tilted her head, trying to get a good look of the eye.  
“Some idiot mocked me, so I zapped him and then he punched me in the face. Seriously, it was nothing.” Pidge explained, taking off their backpack and coat.  
“Why on Earth did you zap him?” Sarah’s voice turned stern, standing back up and placing her hands on her hips.  
“Oh I don’t know, maybe because he said that my fifty years in space a load of bullshit and that I was just ‘tripping balls’ with a bunch of paedophiles. Maybe that's why I zapped him.” Pidge said sarcastically, faking a smile before heading up the stairs to their room.  
Sarah was silent, blinking for a few seconds, “Okay, maybe that was justified then.”  


Pidge dropped their bag and coat on the floor, sitting at their desk and covered their face. They could feel their eyes burning and their nose becoming blocked as tears streamed face their bruised face. They breathed heavily, wiping the tears away. “Calm down, Pidge. This will all be over in a…few years…” They sat still staring at the calendar on the wall, Pidge should have been old and grey by then. “Who am I kidding?”  
“Katie! Someone’s here for you!” Sarah called, Pidge sighed and walked down stairs. They walked into the kitchen and instantly froze before grinning ear to ear.  


“Shiro!!” Pidge yelled, running up to the older man and hugging him tightly.  
“Hey Pidge, long time no see. What happened to your eye?” Shiro squeezed back with his one arm.  
“Um...Long story.” Pidge laughed, rubbing the back of their head. They sat on the chair next to Shiro, “So how’s things?”  
“Ah, it’s been tough. Still trying to get used to writing with this arm.” He laughed lightly, waving his left hand. “Keith’s doing okay though, he’s just been really busy.”  
“Shiro, you don’t have to lie to me.”  
“He’s constantly staying in the shed in our house, trying to find Red.” Shiro sighed, drinking the coffee given to him by Sarah. “Have you heard from Lance and Hunk?”  
Pidge shook their head, “You’re the first person I’ve heard from since we all separated, they’re probably happy with their families or something.” They rolled their eyes and slumped on the table, there was a silence.  
“Oh yeah, I actually also came to say that I’m trying to…get around paperwork to foster you. Just because Keith and I do miss you and it’s really unfair that you’re here and not with family or with anyone familiar an-” Shiro paused when Sarah entered the room again.  
“Katie, I need to speak to Mr. Shirogane before he leaves…alone.” Sarah spoke with a smile pinned across her face.  
“Um…okay?” Pidge raised an eyebrow, looking at Sarah in confusion. “I’ll see you later then.” They stood from the chair and hugged Shiro again before leaving the kitchen, sneaking into a blind spot in the living, they listened.  


“Please don’t ever come here again. Katie is having a hard time as it is and you coming here is just going to make it worse for her.” Sarah crossed her arms, looking down at Shiro’s missing arm. “Besides, you don’t know how to take care a child, never mind yourself.”  
Shiro gritted his teeth together, “First of all, their name is Pidge now, Katie is their old name. Second, I looked out for Pidge all this time during battles and they looked out for me. Thirdly, my arm is gone because of aliens, not because I was reckless. Now if you excuse me, I need to get some papers signed so that Pidge can stay with me. Thank you for the coffee.” Shiro grabbed his coat and led himself out of the house. Sarah huffed and walked away from the kitchen.  
Pidge smiled at the comeback, sneaking back up to their room and laid on the bed, “Please, whoever controls the universe, let Shiro foster me. Just this one time.” Pidge whispered to themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter this time, I didn't want it to be too long.


	3. Shiro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whatever happened to Shiro

Shiro was going to get Pidge back, even if he had to jump through many hoops, even if he had to cut off another limb, he’d get them out of the stranger's house.  
He shivered at the cold air that bit at his skin, the leaves crunched and were kicked around as Shiro walked down the street in the city. He still couldn’t grasp how a lot of things stayed the same and others changed so drastically. Sure, billboards were still up, the old buildings from well over 100 years ago were still holding strong; but the cars were so different and not run on petrol, the people walking past had a different fashion sense than his and the street looks generally cleaner and with more trees.  
The sky was dark by the time he arrived back home; as he unlocked the door, he couldn’t hear anything going in the house. He noticed the phone had two messages and pressed the button to listen. Shiro thought that answering machines wouldn’t be a problem by now but they still existed.  


Message one. “Hey, Shiro. It’s me, Keith. Just calling to let you know that I might be late coming back today so…you don’t have to make food for me. I have a feeling that the lions are nearby. See ya.”  
Beep. Shiro laughed at what Keith said, of course he was still going to make food for him, he’d never feed himself otherwise. Message two.  
“Hello, Mr Shirogane. This is Mr. Smith, speaking from the foster agency. I need you to call me back about the application to foster Katie Holt. Thank you.”  
Beep.  
Shiro smiled, rushing to find the papers for the number to call back. His stomach began to flip, being able to receive the good news he had been waiting all week. He controlled his breathing, he dialled the number.  
Ring ring, ring ring.  
“Hello, Mr Smith speaking.”  
“Hey, it’s Takashi Shirogane, I got a voice mail earlier today about my application.”  
“Oh…Mr Shirogane, hello. Um, yeah, there’s been a decision on the application. Sadly, it’s a rejection.”  
Shiro’s heart sank, “What?”  
“The application to foster Katie Holt has been rejected.”  
“Why? What made them reject it?” Shiro’s voice became dry and shaky.  
“Well, it’s a few things. First off, it’s your house at the moment. Since it’s temporary accommodation, there’s a lot of uncertainty on how long you’ll be staying there. There’s also the fact that neither you nor Mr. Kogane have a job so there’s the lack of funding for rent, electricity, gas, so on. Then…there’s the records. Since neither of you have…any records of living anywhere within these five decades, it’s really hard to find out who you really are.”  
Shiro was silent as he listened to the reasons, all he could think of was how stupid he felt for not even giving those issues some thought.  
The man on the phone cleared his voice, “But! This doesn’t mean that you’ll never be able to foster her, you just need to make adjustments and re-apply.”  
“Okay, thank you.” Shiro hung up. He body became sluggish as he took his coat off and made a coffee. He sat at the table and stared at nothing.  


Next thing he knew, Keith had walked through the door, trying to sneak around the house. The kitchen was pitch black, his coffee was ice cold and the clock said midnight. Where did the hours go?  
Keith turns on the kitchen light, “Shiro?” Shiro looked up at Keith, squinting at the light. “Are you okay?”  
He cleared his throat, “Um…yeah…I just…”  
“How long have you been out?” Keith sat beside him and place his warm hands on Shiro’s shoulder. His mind was grounding back to reality with every breath he took.  
“Five o’clock…I think…I don’t know, I just sat down from a bad phone call and then you came through the door.” Shiro rubbed his eyes with his shaky hands.  
“What was the bad news?” Keith’s expression became worried.  
“It’s gonna take longer to get Pidge back.” Shiro spoke in a blunt tone, Keith pressed his lips together and looks down at the table.  
“Dammit…” Keith sighed, he wasn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t make Shiro go out mentally again, “Do you want some good news?”  
“Please.” Shiro smiled at Keith.  


“I think I may have found the lions.” Keith smirked as he pulled photos from his phone, the images shown a military base in a desert. “You know how I was able to sense Blue when we first found them? Well, I’ve been trying to do that again. I managed to sense them at a military base. I don’t know where since I can’t go too far but I just know they’re in there.”  
“Keith, you never fail to impress me.” Shiro spoke calmly, making Keith smile sheepishly before composing himself again.  
“I think we need to get Pidge, Lance and Hunk together. We need to save the lion before the base tears them apart.” Keith nodded to himself.  
“If we can even get in contact with Lance and Hunk.” Shiro scratched the back of his head. Keith looked away, not wanting to admit the fact.  
“We should plan this tomorrow. My head is really fuzzy.” Shiro closes his eyes.  
“Yeah…Okay.” Keith helped Shiro out of his chair, Shiro headed to the stairs before turning back to Keith.  
“You go to bed too, I don’t wanna wake you up to find out you’ve had two hours’ sleep.” Shiro chuckled as Keith rolled his eyes, following the older man up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Papa Shiro just wants his family back together.


	4. Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What ever happened with Keith?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning in this chapter has stuff about anxiety attacks and loved ones having PTSD.  
> The research I did was for myself to help a loved one with trauma, so I'm really sorry if any of it is inaccurate.

Keith fidgeted in the covers. Wrap himself up in the blanket and he was too hot. Take the cover off his body and he was too cold. Go half and half and he was both too hot and too cold. How the hell was he supposed to sleep soundly in this discomfort? Lifting himself out of bed, he put on his coat and slippers, heading out of the house into the shed. He stopped for a brief moment outside, looked up at the sky and frowned at the lack of stars compared to the old shack he lived in.

Entering his little shed, he rubbed his arms quickly before turning on the heater and switching the laptop on. He looked back at the wall, which displayed a board filled with photos of the areas he searched, newspaper clipping of their arrival back on Earth and a large map of the area covered in crosses. He took out his phone from his pocket and plugged it into the computer, tapping the keyboard and mouse, he printed out photos of the military base. He pinned them to the wall at the location where he took the images and smiled at his work. “I’m coming for you, Red. Just hang in there.”

He spent most of the night researching tactics to break in the base since their security is probably more advanced by now. By the time he realised, it was 4am…oops, Shiro’s not gonna be happy with Keith again. Keith turned everything off, ran back into the house and snuck back to his bedroom. He stopped when he heard unusual noises.

Echoes of sobbing, choking and heavy breathing came from Shiro’s room. Keith’s opened the door quickly, seeing the strong, level-minded Shiro in a mess, sweating and shaking in a ball of heat. “Shiro. Shiro, it’s me, Keith.” Keith ran to him, wrapping his arms as much as he could.

Shiro pushed him away quickly, “No! Stay away! No!” Keith fell to the ground, grunting in pain. Shiro stared at the young man with rapid breathing. Keith took a breath, picking himself up and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, Shiro, you’re going to be alright. Do you remember where you are?” Keith spoke calmly, resisting the urge to go up and touch him on the arms.

Shiro breathed fast, “E-Earth” He spat out, his eyes darting around the room.

“Yeah. You’re…You’re back on Earth.” Keith smiled softly. “Do you want me to do anything for you?” Shiro shook his head quickly. “Okay, can you do me a favour and just…count to ten with me and breathe after each number?”

Shiro nodded, taking a short quick breath, “O-one.” Keith followed with him, another short breath, “Two.” A longer breath, “T-three.” Keith nodded at Shiro, “Four.” He tried taking a deeper breath, “Five.” He brought his hand out to Keith, squeezing tightly, “S-six.” Keith stroked his hand and made small circles. “Seven.” His breathing became calmer, “Eight.” Again, “Nine.” One deep breath. “Ten.”

Keith kept quiet as Shiro calmed his breathing down. “I-I had a nightmare. T-the arena again…I just want these nightmares to stop.” Shiro squeezed Keith’s hand.

“Do you want me to stay here?” Keith asked, getting a nod as a response. They shifted to lie together on the small single bed. Shiro clinging to Keith as he opened up more details of his nightmare. By the time Shiro had calmed down properly, Keith was asleep. He woke up to the sun blinding his face and Shiro gone out of the bed.

Walking downstairs, he found Shiro in the living room on a laptop, searching results on local jobs. “Hey Keith, did you sleep okay?”

“Must have, last thing I remember was resting on you.” Keith yawned.

“Yeah, you went out quickly. I hope it was because I woke you up and not because you were in the shed all night again.” Shiro smirked, being able to tell that Keith’s expression went from tired to guilty.

“Yeah, I was just…really sleepy last night.” Keith lied, darting his eyes away from Shiro.

“Right.” Shiro kept his eyes on the screen. “Were you putting the photos on the wall?”

Keith sighed, “Yeah, I kind of just needed to organise stuff, it was keeping my mind too busy all night.”

“Well, just remember that this planet is your home again. You need to settle into it and not have your head in the clouds all the time looking for the lions.” Shiro looked over at the younger man who frowned back.

“Well that would be easier to settle into this planet if it actually felt like home.” He blurted out.

“What do you mean?” Shiro gave a confused expression.

“I mean we’ve been to many planets, fought battles and saved so many lives, so many planets. Yet we come back here, to our home planet only to be treated like garbage. Don’t you feel mistreated here? I mean they ripped your arm off!” Keith gestured towards Shiro’s missing arm.

“That wasn’t our kind who did that.” Shiro raised his voice, glaring back at Keith. Keith gulped, looking away again.

“Sorry…I just…felt more at home up there. In the castle, with just our team all together.” Keith rubbed the back of his hair, picking at his hair.

“Is this why you wanna find the lions so much?” Shiro picked himself off the sofa and stood in front of Keith.

“Yeah, I didn’t actually think I’d feel homesick but…I do.” Keith looked down on the ground.

Shiro placed his hand on his shoulder. “Well, in that case, we should try and find a way to get them out then.” Shiro smiled before the phone rang, making the two jump. Keith ran to the phone and answered.

“Hello?” Keith spoke in a monotone voice.

“Hey, is this Keith? Or Shiro….? I really can’t tell; whose telephone voice is that?”

“Hunk?” Keith looked over at Shiro with a smile, Shiro’s eyes widened as a grin spread. “Hunk, it’s Keith.”

“Oh thank God, I have the right number.” Hunk spoke as Keith pressed a button.

“You’re on speaker now.” Keith warned as Shiro walked over.

“Hey, Hunk, long time no see. How’ve you been?” Shiro called over, only to receive a nervous laugh.

“I’m okay, I’m with Lance at the moment but he’s in the bathroom. It’s been a weird month for us. Hey, do you guys happen to have any room for us two? We both kind of need a place to stay.” Hunk blurted out all at once.

“Wait…you guys haven’t got a place to stay?” Shiro asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, technically, we have my place but, bad things happened and I don’t really wanna be at my home right now.” Hunk laughed more out of anxiety.

“Okay, we’ll make room, somehow.” Shiro chuckled, glad to hear the big guy’s voice.

Hunk sighed with relief, “Oh that’s good. If you can just text me the address, we should get there by tonight or tomorrow.” The three said goodbye quickly before hanging up, Keith pulled out his phone and quickly tapped at the keyboard on the screen. Shiro could notice Keith’s expression had changed since Hunk called.


	5. Hunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Hunk after?

Sitting in a government hallway, Hunk resisted the urge to react to the news. He wanted to cry it all out but he also wanted to punch something, someone, anything. How could he have missed fifty years of Earth and not age a day? What did his family do whilst he was gone? Are his family even still alive? He didn’t even want to know; it might be too painful to know.

He observed his team, Pidge and Lance already had their breakdowns, both puffy eyed and tired. Pidge still sniffling, curled up in a ball on the floor. Lance staring into nothing as he rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. With Shiro in the middle of getting his arm removed and no news about the lions, Keith fidgeting and grinding his teeth, his eyes dry, red and heavy. Hunk bottled his feelings, he was the backbone of the team, he needed to remain strong for them.

“Right, I’m hungry. Gonna see what we can eat.” Hunk broke the silence, pushing himself off the seat, he needed to focus on something else, food was his go-to distraction. Walking off, he found a vending machine, convinced a staff member to buy him a snack and got half a candy bar. Munching away happily and returning to his gang, one thing he missed about Earth was solid food and tasty snacks. Well, he missed them until his stomach ached violently, making him stagger to the toilet and get rid of the food his body didn’t recognise anymore. He hadn’t felt this ill since they first flew into space. He sat on the seat with a long face as he waited.

“Is…Hunk here?” A young woman asked the gang. The three other teens looked at him as he slowly raised his hand. “We’ve found a relative, your younger brother, Benni? He’s still living in your old home but he’s currently in hospital.” Hunk began to smile, finally good news, someone is still alive.

“Um, hey, yeah, Lance, nice to meet you. Has anyone found a relative of mine yet? Like I have a…really big family so it shouldn’t be too hard, right?” Lance gave a sweet smile at the lady who flicked through her papers and looked back at him.

“No.” she replied before giving Hunk a phone number and walking away. Lance sighed in disappointment, dropping his head back onto Keith’s shoulder.

 

 

Travelling back to his hometown was strange, jittering with excitement and nervousness through the coach ride provided for him. He arrived to a man, around his 40’s holding a sign with ‘Uncle Hunk’ on. Hunk grinned and gave his nephew a bear hug.

“I’m so glad to meet you. Kai, right?” Hunk placing a finger to his head to remember.

“Yes, I’ve heard so much about you from Dad. My car is over here.” Kai led Hunk to a strange contraption, a car that hovered and ran on light, making Hunk talk excitedly about the engineering behind it all. Arriving back to his home, he entered the building a saw no difference to how he remembered it. Sure it had some upgrades but the smell of the house, the way the floors creaked under his steps, all the same. He moved around the house in nostalgia, that was until he saw the family photos. He could tell which photos were after his disappearance, family photos of Christmas, birthdays, weddings, so many celebrations that he missed. “Hey, Kai.”

“Yeah?” Kai answered, bringing a drink to Hunk.

“What happened after I disappeared?” Hunk asked, Kai looked down with sorrow. Sitting down on the nearest chair, Hunk turned to listen.

“From what Dad, Benni, told me, Grandma and Grandpa did everything they could to try and find out where you went. But after so long, the garrison told them that they just reported you dead.” Kai paused before moving off the seat and rummaging through a box to bring out a family album. “You’re free to look at all the photos, but if you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

Hunk held the photo album in front of him, unsure whether to open it or not. Taking a deep breath, he turned the first page, a photo of Hunk and Benni smiling at the camera, before his first day at the garrison, when Benni was a pre-teen and Hunk only wanted to become an engineer. Before he even realized it, tears were streaming down his face. Turning the pages, he got to see more of his family, watching his little brother grow older, attending college, getting married. His parents getting older and becoming grandparents. All of the fifty years were captured in a collection of photos. Hunk let go of his bottled emotions, he was no longer needed to be the backbone for the team, he was allowed to breakdown.

 

\---

 

A week later, Hunk and Kai walked down the halls of the hospital, constant beeping echoing through their ears. Hunk didn’t feel ready to meet him again, will Benni even remember him? Anxiety brewed in his stomach. Entering a room, Hunk finally met his brother again. Benni was old, frail and pale, opposite to what Hunk remembered him as but Benni still smiled at his older brother. “Hunk, you haven’t changed a bit.”

Hunk smiled back, “You’ve gotten old.” He responded, jokingly.

Benni let out a loud laugh before coughing at the same volume, “Well, some of us weren’t lucky enough to go into space…It’s great to see you back home.” Benni gestured Hunk to move closer. “Now, you need to tell me all about where you’ve been. I don’t believe one bit that you’d be bored up there.”

Hunk sighed in relief, not wanting this moment to be a depressing one. He told his journey around the stars to his younger brother and nephew who listened in awe, he told them about the Alteans, the Galra Empire, the Arusians and the Balmera. He talked about the lions and how he and the other paladins piloted them to form Voltron, the defender of the universe. How he and his team brought peace from planet to planet. By the time he was finished, visiting hours were over.

 

The visits after that first one were different, each visit becoming quieter. Benni only spoke to Hunk, ignoring his son completely by the fourth visit. Hunk could feel the anger from his nephew and the tension in his home, “Hey, Kai, can you help me for second? I just need to move this bed and-“

“Can’t you do it yourself?” Kai snapped back before walking away. Hunk couldn’t blame Kai for his attitude, he breathed and carried on with his hard work.

On Hunk’s last visit, he sat beside his brother, both silent as the heart monitor beeped at a slow pace. “Hunk.” Benni spoke, not moving on his bed.

“Yeah?”

“Why did you leave?”

Hunk felt a lump in his throat, his chest gave a sharp pain as he struggled to speak. “I didn’t mean to, Benni… I really didn’t think I’d be gone long… I’m sorry.” His voice cracked as he stopped himself from crying, holding onto his little brother’s hand. That night, Benni passed away.

 

Hunk was stuck a stagnant state, eating comfort food more than usual and reading old comics that he missed during his space travel. Kai’s patience with Hunk were thin, “Would you at least clean this room! For God sake, you think you can just waltz back in this house and trash it with your junk.”

“I didn’t mean to; I’ll clean up now.” Hunk stuttered, picking up items on the floor in his bedroom.

“No! You should have cleaned it immediately; god, how the hell did you do all that bullshit you talked about if you can’t even keep a stupid room clean? I’m going out. Can’t believe I have to take care of you.” Kai slammed the door as he left. Hunk didn’t know how to react to Kai’s latest outburst. He sat in the empty house, alone with his thoughts for the rest of the night. The only thing that snapped him out of his mind was the phone ringing, picking it up, he saw the name ‘Lance’, “Hello? Lance?”

“Hey Hunk, can I come to your place?” Lance didn't sound like himself, he sounded colder, older and tired. “I mean, if you don’t want me to, you can just say no. I just…I wanted to just ask before arriving there.”

“Please come visit, I need company.” Hunk interrupted Lance, they were silent for a moment.

“Okay, I’ll come visit, if you insist.” Lance laughed lightly, his old voice coming back.

Hunk smiled to himself as they both ended the call. Hopefully, some good company will make him feel better again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is getting more and more depressing as I go along ahahahah  
> Also I'm sorry if the names I give to characters are terrible, I'm really bad at giving names in fanfics.


	6. Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What ever happened to Lance?

Lance was the last paladin out of the building, he had already said his goodbyes to Shiro, Keith, Pidge and Hunk. Although given the choice of temporary accommodation like Keith and Shiro, he chose to travel back home and find his family. Standing outside waiting for his coach, he felt the heavy rain hit and trickle down his skin, making him shiver. He missed this terrible feeling so much.

His coach rides gloomy, dark and mostly just sleeping. Once he arrived, he took in his surroundings. There wasn’t anything he recognized. He scratched his head, walking up and down the streets, the rain still falling fast. After an hour of walking around the unfamiliar area, he asked an old man. “Hey, do you know where Walnut street is?” He asked an old man in a small shop.

“Walnut street? That place hasn’t been called that for years, it’s called Wilson Drive now. Did ya grandma tell you the old streets or something?”

Lance laughed, “Yeah…you could say that.” Awkward how he was technically older than the elderly man. Thanking him for the directions, he headed off. Lance arrived to the old street he lived at, memories flooded his mind. When his family first moved to the town, though he could hardly remember his parents or siblings faces, he remembered the anxiety about arriving to the new country. Knocking on the door, he waited.

An old woman opened the door staring at Lance before slamming it back in his face. Lance stood in silence, unsure what had just happened. Knocking again, he heard a voice. “Go away! I don’t want cold callers.”

“I’m not a cold caller, I just wanted to find out if…this house is still under Sanchez residence.” Lance chewed his lip, staring at the door.

“It is, what do you want?” The voice answered.

“Did you ever had a brother or an uncle named Lance?” Lance looked at the details of the house, the building was so ruined and old, whoever lived here didn’t keep up with Mom’s standard of presentation.

“A dead brother, why?” Lance smiled, with how old his siblings were, this woman must have been his youngest sister.

“Elisa, I’m not dead, open the door…please?”

“No.” Elisa shouted. Lance’s smile faded, placing his hand on the door.

“Ellie, please open the door. I’m not lying. I…It’s hard to explain out here, I need to explain it inside. Please open the door.” Lance patted his hand on the door repeatedly, sounds of barking started from inside the building. Elisa responded with a hard, loud bang as the dogs barked louder and aggressive. 

“Piss off or I’ll get my dogs on you!” Elisa shouted, scaring Lance and making him run away from the house. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he ran down the street. He hid from the rain as he recovered from the scare. Looked like he needed to give it a day or two before she’d come around.

 

He booked a room at a run-down motel, determined to get back to his sister, he laid in the bed and rested. He forgot how comfortable the beds in the castle were. Lance stared at the ceiling, springs poking into his back and the bed covers scratching his legs. When getting out of bed, his legs like jelly and seeing black spots all over the room, but he needed to talk to Elisa.

Second try of visiting Elisa didn’t go well either. Knocking on the door for half an hour with no answer besides from loud barking. “Why are you knocking on the crazy lady’s door?” A kid asked Lance, turning around, he noticed the people walking past just to stare at him.

“She’s a relative of mine.” Lance answered.             

“She doesn’t have any relatives. Nobody likes her.” The kid shouted out quickly. Lance’s heart felt a stab. How long has she been alone?

Lance continued to visit every day. Half an hour of knocking and waiting. Despite the stares from strangers and the aggressive barking, he carried on. After a fortnight of trying to get his sisters attention, she opened the door and glared at him. “Ellie, you need to listen. I am actually Lance. Okay?”

As soon as he spoke, she slammed the door. Lance kicked his foot in between and winced in pain as she crushed his foot. “Get your foot off my door or I’ll call the cops!” She hissed at him.

“Ellie, please believe me! I’ll even prove I’m Lance.” Lance pleaded, tears welling up as he endured the pain. “You’re the youngest out of Mora, Me, Theo, and you. We moved here from Cuba when you were only three years old and I was eleven. You got a burn on your hand because Mora was making dinner for us three and you grabbed a hot tray from inside the over. Your scar has probably healed by now but it was there when I last saw you when you were eleven years old.” Elisa froze, loosening the door and looking him in the eye.

“Do you really think I’m that stupid to not recognized my own brother? My brother who disappeared without a trace at a military space school? Do you know how much drama that caused? Do you know how much you tore our family apart because of that? I don’t want to be reminded of what you did. Now get out of my face before I call the cops on you.” Elisa screamed at his face through the gap of the door. Lance slowly moved his foot away from the door, allowing Elisa to slam the door to his face. He stood for a moment before walking away.

Arriving back to his motel room, he sat on the bed and curled up into a ball. He coughed as tears flooded down his face for hours. His family was gone. He felt small and insignificant. He began to remember during the castle, how his friends became his new family as his old one was falling apart. How foolish he felt for thinking he could simply go back to how it was before.

Lance picked up his phone, one that was given to him when they all arrived back. Looking at his contact, all there was were his four friends. “Would they even want me there?” He thought. He knew Hunk was meeting his brother again, probably happy being with his family. Keith and Shiro were living together, probably building a new life. Pidge was in foster care, probably happy to finally have a home. Sighing, he pressed dial on Hunk’s contact and waited. He wanted to get away from this town, he wanted to forget it. It wasn’t his home anymore; Earth wasn’t his home anymore. He clenched his own hair in his fist, hoping for Hunk, Keith or Shiro to allow him to stay with them.

The phone rang, Lance held his breath, waiting for Hunk to answer the phone. “Hello? Lance?” Hunk’s voice spoke through the phone, he got a lump at is throat, missing the familiar company he had been looking for.

“Hey Hunk, can I come to your place? I mean, if you don’t want me to, you can just say no. I just…I wanted to just ask before arriving there.” He rubbed his eyes, his stomach turning in anxiety as he spoke.

“Please come visit, I need company.” Hunk spoke, he…sounded upset but relieved as well. Was Hunk on the same boat as Lance? As soon as he noticed the tone of Hunk’s voice, his own upset faded slowly. His mind switched from thinking about himself to focusing his attention on Hunk. 

“Okay, I’ll come visit, if you insist.” Lance laughed, pretending to have the same old attitude he always used to have. Exchanging details and hanging up, he grabbed all of his items and shoved it all in his bag. Noticing the device that Allura and Coran gave him, he decided to keep it closer to him. A feeling in his gut told him that he needed it soon. Arriving there, he gave a genuine smile to his friend as Hunk gave a tight bear hug before both headed back to Hunk’s house.

 

“He can’t stay here.” Kai spoke with disgust. Lance listened in on the conversation between relatives, the conversation being all too familiar to old school days. There was a clear difference with this situation, he was more desperate to stay compared to the day of staying at a friend’s house.

“Please, Kai. He hasn’t got anywhere else to go, we have room.” Hunk gestured to the house. “Can’t he can stay until we get a place for him.”

“I said no! If I allow this, how do I know you won’t bring your other friends?” Kai spoke louder, purposely not looking at Hunk.

“My other friends? Why did you say it like that? Like they’re some stray cat?” Hunk’s voice grew serious.

“Well isn’t that what they all are really? Strays? None of them have homes, nobody wants them around. With all the crazy talk you said to Dad, I’m really not surprised your buddy over there got rejected by his family.” Lance’s heart sank, it was a difficult truth to swallow.

“So I’m also just a stray too?” Hunk spoke with anger brewing. “Y’know, if you thought that what I told Benni was ‘crazy talk’ and if you just saw me as some stray, why did you act so nice? You shouldn’t have wasted both of our time and pretended to be nice. It’s just rude. I’m leaving with Lance; I hope you have a good life…Alone.” Hunk stormed out of the room, leaving Kai with crossed arms. Lance ran into the bathroom, not wanting to face Hunk’s hidden wrath.

Exiting the bathroom after a few minutes, he found Hunk hurling a bag over his shoulder. “What’s going on?” Lance said, pretending that he didn’t hear the argument.

“Let’s just say that…Kai isn’t happy with visitors right now, with Benni’s death and all. I phoned Shiro and Keith and they have a space for us both.”

“Ah, I…used the last of my money to get here.” Lance looked down in shame.

“Don’t worry, I’ll use mine.” Hunk answered, leaving Lance with a shocked face. “You don’t have to pay me back.” Lance’s jaw dropped more as Hunk headed out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still sorry about my writing. Next one will be longer I think.


	7. Home

Being back on Earth wasn’t as bright and happy as the paladins imagined it to be. They didn’t get their glorious parade welcoming them back home. They didn’t get the support from families and friends. What they got was bleak loneliness. Except for when Hunk and Lance arrived at Keith and Shiro’s house. As Keith answered the door to Hunk and Lance, he was tackled by the duo.

“Keith!” Hunk and Lance shouted at the other, laughing as Keith nearly lost his balance. Shiro ran to the hallway, checking the noise. “Shiro!” The two shouted as they ran over to the older man, dragging Keith with them.

It was a moment where the room was bright, where none of them could stop grinning. It was a rare moment where they were all happy.

 

\--

 

“Hey, guess what I found when going through my stuff at my motel room.” Lance spoke, rummaging through his bag before pulling out the device. “Ta-da! I completely forgot that Allura gave us these!”

“Huh, I forgot about that too.” Shiro spoke, taking the device from Lance. “I don’t even know where I put mine.”

“I kept mine in my old room but I was kind of too busy to use it…Plus Allura and Coran probably didn’t wanna hear me complaining.” Hunk rested his arms on the table, trying to remember what happened to his device before letting out a small gasp. “I think I actually left it.”

“I’ve been using mine to talk to Allura.” Keith said, silence filled the room as the other stared at Keith. “What? How’d did you think I knew the lions weren’t back in the castle?”

“I don’t know, I thought it was just your intuition.” Shiro shrugged.

“Wait…you’ve been tracking the lions?” Lance asked, shaking his hand. “Where are they?”

“In a military base in the middle of nowhere. I…was actually planning to release them.” Keith kept his eye contact away from Shiro as the older man glared at him.

“Dude! Why didn’t you invite us! We could have all helped. They shouldn’t even be there anyway, I thought they had gotten back to Allura and Coran already.” Lance spoke, surprising Keith by agreeing with him.

“What? Are you crazy? You’d get arrested within seconds after releasing them!” Hunk scolded his friends in a panic.

“You weren’t just planning to just release them, were you?” Shiro spoke, his voice stern. Keith refused to look at Shiro. “Were you just planning to leave with them, just like that? Were you just gonna leave us?”

“Well no but…Can you really blame me? This planet has gone to shit in between the time we were away. Hell, it was shit for me before everything happened. I never missed this place, I never wanted to come back. The only time when I really felt like I was home was away from Earth.” Keith ranted at Shiro. “You out of everyone should know that.”

There was a tension that filled the air. The men sat at the table awkwardly. “You could have at least asked if we wanted to tag along.” Shiro added.

“I assumed Lance and Hunk were with family. I didn’t want them to leave their families again, and you have been trying to get Pidge to come here, but since I haven’t been much help I thought if I just left, there’s one less problem for you and Pidge.” Keith kept his eyes away from everyone.

“Keith…You’re not a reason why it’s hard fostering Pidge. The only problem with that is higher ups. They’re just assholes.” Lance let out a small laugh before clearing his throat and nodding at Shiro. “If you would have told me, I would have joined you. We’d have to plan how to get Pidge with us too because there’s no way we’d be leaving without them.”

“I started really missing stuff out there really quickly. The planets we went to, the people we met, surprisingly I really miss the food-goo too. My home just didn’t feel like home anymore. I would have tagged along if you had told me your plan.” Hunk smiled at Keith.

“I wouldn’t have wasted so much time trying to get Elisa to talk to me if you had asked me.” Lance said reluctantly. “I would have fought myself to stay and be with my family but…deep down I already knew my family was long gone.”

“Are we done with this sentimental moment, I don’t really know how I’m supposed to react to it.” Keith pouted, at least making Shiro laugh under his breath. “We should probably contact Allura and Coran about our plan.”

“How do you even work this anyway? It just looked like a pebble.” Lance grabbed the device from the table and fiddled with it. Keith reached over and activated the called. Light projected from the device as a screen appeared. On the screen was Allura controlling the castle, startled at the screen appearing.

“Paladins? Is that you?” Allura asked, shocked to see their faces again.

“Yeah, well…most of us are here.” Shiro called out.

“Oh good, has Keith found the lions yet? He’s been searching them in person for us. Did you know they haven’t arrived back home, Shiro? The Red lion, I can believe but the others. It’s odd.” Allura rambled to herself, Shiro was unsure when to answer back.

“Yeah, Keith found the lions but they’re trapped at the moment. We have some news though, we’re gonna free them and come back home.”

“What? But you are home.” Allura looked confused at what Shiro said.

“It was…but not anymore. We need you help making a plan.” Shiro replied, ready to plan when.  

Knock knock knock.

“Oh god, it’s the feds! Keith, what have you done now?” Lance laughed as Keith shot a glare.

“We’ll call you back Allura.” Shiro spoke, Allura nodded and they disconnected. Shiro walked away, opening the door. “Pidge?”

The three younger men turned their attention on the door. Shouting in excitement.

“Can I come in?” Pidge asked, looking down. Shiro gestured them to come in.

“What are you doing here?” Shiro asked, helping with the extra bags they brought with them. Before anyone noticed, Pidge was already in tears.

“Pidge, what’s wrong?” Lance asked, walking over to the youngest and guiding them to his chair.

“I wanna go home.” Pidge’s breathing broke as they tried to fight their tears as Hunk rubbed their back. “I wanna go back to the castle.” What timing, they all meet up on the same day and all want the same thing. To go back.

“Well, we have good news.” Keith responded, Pidge looked up. “We’re all gonna go back.”

 

\--

 

The morning after was bitter cold, Lance, Shiro and Pidge waited for Hunk and Keith to return. “So apparently, they don’t consider Pluto a planet again.” Pidge said, setting up their computer.

“They considered it a planet again?” Shiro asked, spying at the base. It looked empty, no lights indicating any life and nobody walking outside of it.

“Apparently, they went from saying it was a planet, then it wasn’t a planet, then it’s just a dwarf planet which was when we were all here. Then it went back to being a planet because the newer scientists were alive when Pluto was a planet and then it got changed back to not being a planet because the new-new scientists first learnt it not being a planet. My guess soon it’ll be re-considered a dwarf planet again.” Pidge explained, setting up the laptop

“Or they should just make up their minds already.” Lance added, packing the bags onto the bike. Keith and Hunk arrived to the rest of the group.

“Do we have everything ready?” Shiro asked.

“Everyone’s bags are here.” Keith responded.

“The computer’s ready.” Pidge said. Shiro pulled out a control and breathed slowly.

“Are you guys sure you wanna do this? We can always just go back and have normal lives.” Shiro asked. Everyone nodded to his question. He pressed the button which set off explosions in the distance, they could only just hear the noise. The base began to show panic, workers running outside to investigate the noise. It wasn’t enough though. They waited a few more seconds before taking out the device. “Allura, Coran, not a lot of guards are out here. We might need you guys after all.” Shiro spoke at the device.

Allura grinned as she controlled the castle to lower to Earth. “This is going to be fun! Scaring the humans!” She laughed to herself as Coran scanned the building. The paladins saw the castle floating down to the Earth’s atmosphere. As soon as it was visible, guards began to run out of the building in crowds. Pidge took this as a signal and typed a few commands to the computer, sending a virus to shut down the base temporarily.

“Why do movies make hacking look so cool…kind of disappointing seeing it in real life.” Lance said, staring at the computer as it uploaded the virus.

“Yeah, I’m kind of disappointed about that too.” Pidge stared blankly at the screen. The upload was complete, giving the team a signal to go. They hopped on Keith’s bike and drove as quickly as possible.

Grabbing their bags and running into the entrance, they found themselves in front of guards. “Stay where you are!” The guards held their guns at them. Lance, Hunk and Shiro held their hands up quickly. Keith was ready to fight them.

“Dammit, Lance. Why did you think tasers were a good weapon?” Keith whispered at Lance.

“I don’t want people dying whilst we try and escape, plus did you ever get tasered by Pidge? That shit is brutal.” Lance whispered by to Keith.

“Guys, shut up already.” Shiro snapped at the two who were quick to stop talking. “Pidge…where are you-Pidge, come back. Pidge!”

Pidge walked in front of the team and towards the armed men. The guards shouted again, “Stay where you are!”

“But sir, I’m just a little kid.” Pidge grinned before getting close enough to taser them both. The guards fell to the ground as their bodies began to spasm from electricity. Pidge signal the others to follow as they headed inside the building.

Lance gestured to Pidge and the guards. “See what I mean?” Keith nodded, wide eyed. The group sneaked into the base with Coran on the speaker.

“Alright, the nearest lion is the Green lion so number five, you’ll be the first to escape!” Coran spoke “She’ll be on your left right…about…now!”

Pidge grinned and ran down the hallway. “Be careful Pidge!” Shiro shouted down the hallway.

“I just zapped two guys whilst you all stood around like idiots, do you really need to worry?” Pidge laughed, running away. They weren’t wrong…

The four carrying on walking. The alarm blaring into their ears and the red-light flashing, nearly blinding them. “The next lion should be Black, so Shiro. You need to get ready to find her on your own. She’ll be in the hall on your left and then your right. Everyone else need to head off to the first right.” Coran explained.

“Freeze! Freeze or I’ll shoot!” A guard jumped out of nowhere.

“What? Freeze? No I said Black, it’s Blue who uses freezing powers!” Coran shouted down the device. The four stood still, not breaking eye contact with the guard.

“Drop all your weapons, now.” The guard ordered, pride showing on his face.

They all showed their tasers and dropped them on the floor, Keith kept one hand hidden, holding the blade. The guard noticed and aimed at Keith. The guard shot his gun as Hunk covered Keith. Shiro grabbed his taser and ran at the guard, zapping him out cold. Lance looked over at Hunk and Keith, “Are you guys okay?” Hunk struggled to stand up, Keith and Lance helping him. Blood stained his shirt.

“Oh man, this is…not good.” Hunk muttered. The building shook as the Green Lion crashed out of the building.

“What happened? Is everyone alright?” Allura spoke through the speaker.

“Hunk got shot. He’s bleeding bad.” Shiro responded. They heard Allura order Coran to set up the healing pod.

“You all need to get out of there quickly. Shiro, your lion is the closest. Give the device to Keith or Lance.” Allura spoke. Shiro handed the device to Lance.

“Get Hunk in his lion safe, okay?” Shiro looked at both Lance and Keith, who nodded in response. Shiro ran down the hall out of sight.

“Okay, Shiro’s headed to the Black Lion. Who next?” Lance called through the device. Lance and Keith worked together to keep Hunk steady as they turned right down another hallway.

“You’re in luck, Hunk. Yellow is not far.” Allura smiled through her voice.

“Oh, thank God, I thought I was gonna die here.” Hunk laughed, his forehead sweating already as his breathed through the pain.

“You’re not dying here buddy.” Keith said, patting his back. “Thanks for protecting me there. You didn’t need to but…Thank you.” Keith didn’t look at Hunk. The building shook again, Black and Shiro had left.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. It only hurts a lot and I feel like I’m gonna puke but, besides that, it’s all good.” Hunk kept laughing, refusing to cry in pain. The three arrived at the door to Yellow, Lance opened the door as Keith kept Hunk on his feet. The room was huge as Yellow sat still in the force field. As they drew closer, the force field opened and Yellow opened the mouth, allowing the three to walk in and set Hunk on the seat.

“There you go big guy, take care getting back to the castle.” Lance patted Hunk on the shoulder as he and Keith left Hunk in Yellow’s care. They ran out of the room as it crashed out of the roof. The building was falling apart now.

“Blue is next, down the hallway. Red should be on the opposite side.” Allura said, “I’ll trust you both to get there on your own.”

“Babe, you can trust me any d-.” Lance flirted over the device, Allura hung up before he could even finish his sentence. “Dammit.” The two walked down the hallway. “So…this is it. Gonna leave Earth again, possibly for good this time.”

“Yep. You ready?” Keith looked over to Lance. Lance shook his head.

“I’m gonna miss the home I had here…but…that place is gone.” Lance shut his eyes, keeping his mouth closed. Keith stared at Lance before reaching over to hug him. Lance stood shocked, Keith rarely ever showed affection to him, he accepted their current bonding moment and hugged back.

“Hopefully you’ll find home away from home out there.” Keith said, pulling away quickly. They both headed to both doors that contained Red and Blue. “See you in a bit.” Keith gave a slight wave. They both entered their lions are flew out of the base. Keith smiled at the castle as he drew closer to it. Lance, however, wiped tears from his face. The Blue lion was the last to arrive onto the castle as it flew away from Earth for good. Lance walked down the halls of the ship and into the dining area where Shiro, Keith, Pidge, Allura and Coran celebrated the successful escape. They all greeted Lance into the room, with Coran and Allura running to him and giving a group hug. For the first time in a while, he was with family again.

 

\--

 

Pidge sat by the window, watching the scenery of space floating past slowly. “Hey.” Shiro stood nearby.

Pidge jumped in shock, letting out a small yelp. “Jesus, Shiro. You scared me!” Shiro laughed before they shared a brief silence. “How’s Hunk holding up?”

Shiro smiled, sitting next to Pidge, “He’ll survive, everyone’s just taking a good nap.” He looked over at Pidge’s creation. “What’re you making?”

“Well, you need an arm so…I guessed I’d try and make you one. I mean, it’s not gonna be as advanced as the technology Galra had but I’m trying to at least make it able to move with your command.”

Shiro laughed slightly, “Thanks Pidge. It’d be nice to have another arm again.”

Pidge looked up at Shiro before turning to the window. “I guess now that we’re back, we can finally go find Dad and Matt, right?”

Shiro’s expression become more sorrowful, “Yeah, we can do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really, really sorry about this being so late and if it feels really rushed or sloppy. I struggled to make the ending feel right for them. Thank you to everyone who read this fic, it really means a lot to me that you enjoyed it despite the long wait for the end chapter.  
> Next time I'll make a short fic ahaha

**Author's Note:**

> I rarely write so please forgive the terrible writing.  
> 


End file.
